Thousands of trees to be felled due to emerald ash borer

Ash tree in Larry Fink Memorial Park

Gregory Trotter, Chicago Tribune

The emerald ash borer, a green beetle devastating ash trees thoughout the Upper Midwest, has infested more than 200 trees at Larry Fink Memorial Park in Highland Park. They will be removed this summer.

The emerald ash borer, a green beetle devastating ash trees thoughout the Upper Midwest, has infested more than 200 trees at Larry Fink Memorial Park in Highland Park. They will be removed this summer. (Gregory Trotter, Chicago Tribune)

Officials are reporting an acceleration of devastation from the ash borer, a beetle that has decimated the ash tree population in many communities. Within the Park District of Highland Park, about 680 trees were tagged for removal this summer — a number that's likely to growi, said Ted Baker, director of park operations.

Of those tagged, about 250 have been removed, Baker said. About 120 ash trees were removed within the district last year.

Park users will see the most dramatic change at Fink Memorial Park, off of Clavey Road, where about 200 will be removed, he said. Entire groves of leafless ash trees, near the dog park and on the disc golf course, will be torn out.

"It's tough to take down all these trees," said Baker, who's been with the Park District for 32 years. "It's a shame."

The Park District of Highland Park budgeted about $115,000 this year for removal and replanting, he said. As with other park districts and municipalities, the focus will be on replanting a diverse range of trees in hopes of avoiding similar infestations that wipe out an entire species.

Lake Forest has tagged 2,400 parkway ash trees for removal, said city forester Peter Gordon, and estimates another 1,400 in residential ash trees that will need to come down.

"We're out there tagging about 50 trees a day," Gordon said.

The city has budgeted $200,000 for removal costs, he said, and $100,000 for replanting. With the long, harsh winter, Gordon said there was some hope that temperatures would drop low enough to kill off the emerald ash borer.

"It was cold enough for you and I," he said, "but not cold enough to kill the bug."

Though smaller in scale, Deerfield is also taking down its largest number of infested parkway ash trees to date at about 400, said Eric Oscarson, assistant to the public works director.

A similar number of trees will come down next summer, he said.

"We originally had a five-year plan to remove 250 a year," Oscarson said. "But we don't really have a choice. They're dying or completely dead."

The Deerfield Park District has taken down about 50 ash trees, said Jay Zahn, director of parks, and another 100 are tagged for removal.

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